Tweeters:

Anne Winskie and I birded the central Skagit hotspots this morning, finding
about 63 species by noon or so. The highlight had to be a nice VEERY that
turned up along Martin Rd in Rockport. Just after you turn onto Martin Rd
off 530 (the Sauk Valley Rd), there is a small swamp on the south side of
the road that adjoins a mature forest. Here in the riparian forest we both
saw the bird, there were 1-2 Swainson's Thrushes also present for good
comparison. This is only Skagit's 7th record that I am aware of.

Other highlights: AM. REDSTARTS are back in. We had one flashy male at the
south access to the County Line ponds (not the agg ponds), and another bird
was singing from cottonwoods along the river at the Marblemount Boat launch,
site of last year's famous Alder Flycatcher. If you visit the south access
to county line ponds, keep your eyes open for hummers: we had an odd,
green-backed male bird that appeared to have an extended, dark gorget
(extended far down at the sides) that had me speechless, but we could not
see much more than the throat and underparts as the bird was perched at the
end of a dead branch above us. This was most likely the "big one that got
away" for the day. A NASHVILLE WARBLER was also singing clearly from the
steep rocky slope on the other side of 20 from the s. access to county line,
and Howard Armstrong reported another from Newhalem May 26.

We could not find any kingbirds at Corkindale Creek (although Howard
Armstrong had one WESTERN Thurs, May 26), but I did detect at least 3 LAZULI
BUNTINGS here, and there were at least 10 BANK SWALLOWS also. We had 4
other LAZULIS at various spots between Rockport and Marblemount.

Of other regulars, CASSIN'S VIREOS seemed to be in their usual good numbers
but RED-EYEDs seemed to be just arriving, with only two birds found.
Warbling Vireos and Hammond's Flycatchers were common throughout the area,
among others.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com